Ch 24
Louise screamed as their car was violently slammed to the side to the sound of loudly impacting metal and felt herself being thrown to the side. She was then jerked forward and the air bag hit her in the face. She heard more loud crashing, but couldn't see anything until the air bag collapsed. The hood was crumpled in front of her. To the side, the mangled driver's door was opened. Delilah wasn't in the car.
No! her mind cried. "Delilah!" she screamed, fearing Delilah had been thrown from the car and got ran over. Louise tried to get out. The seat belt was still holding her, she got it unbuckled and crawled out the driver side.
"Delilah!" she yelled, praying her new mother wasn't dead.
"Over here, stay out of the road!" Delilah yelled back.
Delilah was by a small car that was on it's top and upside down, jammed into a steel post fence. Phone in one hand, Delilah tore the passenger door off the car and got down on her knees to look in.
Despite being told to stay out of the road, Louise ran over to her. "Mom, you're OK?" she asked in a panic. She did see Delilah's arm was bleeding.
"I'm fine, move to the side," Delilah said, then added, "My daughter, she got out of our wreck, There are two young people in this car, the car is on it's top, broken windshield. I'm gong to need help getting them out ... yes, as fast as possible, please!"
Louise moved to the edge of the road. Delilah got out and gave her the phone. "Talk to them, I have to get these kids out."
"Hello?" Louise asked.
"This is the 911 emergency center, Is your mother there?"
"Yes, she just crawled back into the car that hit us. She's trying to get... Oh God, the front of the car's on fire!"
"Help is on the way. Stay away from the wrecks. What's your name?"
"I'm Louise Connor, Mom's coming back out, she's got a girl... the girl had a bloody face... I can see red lights coming."
"Is the area lit?"
"No, just the lights on our car ... except for the headlights, they're smashed. The only light on this other car is the fire in front. Mom's out, she's carrying the girl over by me. She going back in."
The girl lying near Louise moaned weakly.
Hearing sirens and seeing flashing lights, Louise turned to them. "It's an ambulance coming, I can here a police car coming too. The girl here is hurt," Louise told the lady.
"I just got confirmation help is arriving at the scene. You can hang up now."
Louise did.
Shortly the area was filled with red and blue rotating and flashing lights. A cop helped Delilah get the young man out of the car, the medics tended to both, got them on stretchers and into the ambulance. The ambulance took off, wailing it's sirens. a fire truck arrived to put the burning car out.
Now that the injured were on their way to the hospital, Delilah was talking with one policeman. Another came over to Louise.
"Ma'am, are you all right?" he asked.
Louise nodded. "I'm OK. A bit scared, but I'm not hurt." She pointed to the upside down car. "We were about to go through the intersection and that car was racing at us. It didn't have any lights on! Mom tried to turn and stop, but they hit us. They didn't see the red light they had, ours was green, and they didn't see us either!"
The cop nodded slowly. "You sure you're all right? we can take you to the hospital for a checkup."
"I'm sure, I'm fine. Mom's OK?" she asked.
Delilah came over and held her hand out. "Hon, I need to use the phone."
Louise gave it to her.
The other cop came over and said, "Ma'am, that was fast thinking. If they would have hit you square in the side, you'd be going to the hospital, that is if you survived the impact."
"It's good thing I saw them, it wasn't easy since they had no lights on and the car is a dark color," Delilah replied. "I have to call for ride."
Louie watched as the cops verified with Delilah the direction they came from and where the other car came from. They measured skid marks and took pictures of the intersection and both cars, writing everything down.
A short while later, Louise recognized the big black Excursion park off to the right of the intersection. The blinkers came on. John and Cameron got out. They all met together. The police were done investigating, and were waiting for the tow trucks to arrive.
One Officer let them know once the accident information was collected and logged, they would get a copy for their insurance company. It was obvious who was at fault, and they had not found any insurance information in the other car. All the information they had came from a license plate check.
Not being needed at the scene any more, they all got in the Excursion and headed home.
.
That night, Louise had an odd dream. She was standing in the road at the accident. No one was around, only their car crashed into a concrete abutment, and the other car upside down, mashed into the steel post fence. In the dark, two figures approached her.
Louise smiled. "Mom? Dad?" she asked. "Are you OK? You don't hurt or anything, do you?" she asked eagerly.
"We're fine," her mother said with a gentle smile.
"We are proud of you, Louise," her father said. "We just wanted you to know that."
"We will be watching, but we must go now. We love you, daughter." Her mother said.
They both faded away.
"Wait! I love you too!" Louise cried. They were gone. To the empty street, she said, "Bye, I will always miss you."
Louise woke up with a hand reaching out. The dream fresh in her mind. It had felt real. She relaxed, feeling a little more at ease. Wherever they were, her parents were OK.
.
Two days later, the copy of the police report arrived. What they found it was a 14 year old boy had grabbed his mother's keys to go for a Joy ride. He'd picked up his girlfriend, and they were making out when the accident happened. The boy was in serious condition, the girl was in ICU with a broken back and other serious injuries. It was questionable if she would ever walk again. They also had no insurance.
It had to suck to be that boy's parents. The girls parents were sure to be very unhappy with what happened to their daughter, and would say it in court with a lawyer.
.
Their runabout car, the Toyota, was totaled. The insurance company was sending them a check for the insured amount, plus John got a small check from the junkyard that received the car. So they didn't get another purple vehicle, Delilah got to select the new car.
The focus in all new cars seemed to be in the electronics. Made lighter so they got the best gas mileage, airbags were installed for safety. Cars were not even made out of steel any longer. Aluminum was now the main unibody of cars.
After the crash, Delilah thought it would be better to just get the EV-2 or the bulldozer-tank registered and drive that. Unfortunately, tracked vehicles were not authorized to be on the road.
Cameron drove Delilah to several dealerships in her purple Jeep. Even the bigger cars, Delilah saw as flimsy. Yes, they had great advancements in 'driver assist' functions, a couple could even steer and brake for you. Some even forwent the steering column, everything was now computer controlled. Only the emergency brake was operated by the driver and directly connected to the rear brakes.
Frustrated, Cameron took Delilah to a classic car dealer. There was no show room here, but a large garage with old cars that had been restored. The man who met them assured Delilah that they also serviced the cars they sold, and each car had been completely rebuilt to the original specifications.
It was here Delilah found the car she was looking for. Red body with a white top, long fins trailing up on the back. She fell in love with it on first sight. It was beautiful, and had much more character than anything sold new. The old 1958 Plymouth Fury even had a name.
Delilah drove Christine home.
.
On the way home, Delilah saw everyone's head turn when she went by. This car was old tech. The steering wheel wasn't adjustable, the radio was only AM, the windows had cranks to get them up and down, and the seat was a long bench seat. That didn't matter to her, this car was solid and it rode nice. There was a short or something in it though. The radio came on by itself.
"Let me tell you how it's gonna be ... You're gonna give your love to me..."
Wow, Delilah didn't know there were AM radio stations that were still on the air. It was a good song, so she let it play.
The fuel gauge read only a quarter left, so she pulled into a gas station. She stopped before getting to the pumps, and got out to see which side the fill port was. Once she found it in the back, she pulled up, having to take up this side of all three pumps to line the fill port up with the pumps. Not sure how much the tank held, she got down under it. Once he figured out about how much gas she needed, she went in and paid.
Coming back out, there was a car behind her. The man in it yelled, "Hey, you wanna move that monster down a ways?"
"I'll be gone in a couple moments," Delilah replied. She started filling up. She ignored his ranting and curses at her.
"You want me to scratch that pretty car of yours?" he asked.
"You want your ass kicked?" she replied.
A man on the other side yelled, "Leave the lady alone, or I'll come kick your ass!"
Delilah finished filling up. The guy behind her stopped complaining and waited his turn. She had calculated close, the gauge read just a hair below full. She motored out and continued home.
At the house, she parked right in front of the door. John came out to see her new ride, as did the kids.
John looked it over and petted a fender. "This is really old, and in top shape. What year is it?"
"Christine was made in 1958," Delilah told him. "She's rugged too! I don't think an econo-car has a hope of knocking her off the road."
"I bet," John agreed. "I noticed it's red too."
"Almost like it was made just for me," Delilah grinned.
"The seats are just benches," Joan noted. "But this is pretty cool."
"It is," JJ agreed.
"It sure is shiny," Jackie noted, looking at her reflection in the paint on a rear fin.
"The man I bought it from said they restore it completely," Delilah told John. "Even the engine looks new."
Going around to the front, Delilah lifted the hood. "Wow", John said, "No dirt, oil or anything. This does look like a brand new car."
"It runs good, and the the ride is great," Delilah told him. She noted JJ messing with the side view mirror. Stepping around the front, she said, "JJ, don't mess with that, they are manually adjusted."
The hood came down fast. Still under it, John quickly caught it and pushed it back up. "You may need new hood springs," he said.
They studied the springs, lifted and lowered the hood. Delilah pushed the hood up all the way. It stayed and didn't seem weak. "That's odd," Delilah said with a frown. "They don't seem weak."
"No," John said in a musing tone. "Just be careful with it. It could be it's supposed to have stronger springs than what they could find when they did the rebuild."
Delilah agreed with his assessment. She took her shiny new/old car to the garage and parked it. She gave one last look at it. This was a car that she could enjoy.
.
It was getting close to time to move. Their house was done and ready to inhabit. The 20 foot moving truck was loaded up with everything they would not need for the next two weeks when school was out. They had a date for moving.
Getting on the school bus, Joan sat by Bob as usual. "We have a date for moving," she told him. "June 20th, the day after the last day of school. When's your day?"
"Last week of June, Dad says the 25th." Bob replied. He clasped her hand and asked, "Can you live five days without me?"
Joan laughed. "I don't know. It will be tough. How about you? Can you live five days without me to harass you?"
Bob took on a serious face. "It will be tough, but I will manage somehow."
From behind, Charlie asked, You're moving?"
"We are." Bob told him. "Dad's got the house up for sale, we've been fixing and cleaning, getting ready to go."
"We're packed, except for what we need in the next couple weeks. Oh Bob! did I tell you we got a new, old car?" Joan asked. "Mommy two says it's name is Christine!"
Charlie asked in a mocking tone. "Let me guess, it's an old red and white Plymouth."
"Yes, how'd you know?" Joan asked.
Charlie gaped at her. "Your Mom named it?"
Joan shrugged. "I guess that was the car's name is. It's really cool."
"Your Mom bought THE Christine?" Charlie asked weakly.
Joan eyed him. "What's wrong with that?"
"Tell her to get rid of it, that car is cursed!" Charlie said firmly. "People died in that car, one man was decapitated when the hood slammed down on him. I heard that car can move and drive by itself."
Joan laughed. "There is nothing modern about this car," she said, grinning. "No electronics at all. Even the windows have to be cranked up and down. It doesn't even have a good radio. It only plays on AM stations."
"Charlie!" Bob said firmly. "Stop trying to scare Joan."
"I'm serious!" Charlie told him. "That car kills people!"
Joan clapped her hands to the sides of her face in pretend shock. "Oh no, we got a terminator car!"
Bob laughed at Joan, as did a few others in hearing range.
Charlie sat back with a huff. "You'll see." he grumbled.
.
All the classes were getting ready for their final tests. Pre-tests were given so the students knew what they had to study up on. During home room, Joan went to the library to look up any legends about a car named Christine.
Surprisingly, Joan found a couple. The first one read that Christine was made in late 1957, modeled as a '58. Before it left the factory, a man was found dead in it. The first owner, who kept the car a long time had his daughter killed in the car. The next entry claimed the car killed three teenagers who were harassing the current owner and the man who owned the storage where it was kept. Finally that owner died and the car was crushed into a block of metal. The last entry claimed the car was found in a junk yard, intact, and sold to a dealer in classic cars.
OK this was some strange stuff. Joan printed the information to show to Delilah.
.
The girls got home, Allison was staying over tonight. Joan gave the paper to Delilah and told her about Charlie claiming her car was evil. Delilah grinned and read the paper over.
"Joan, do you believe this?"Delilah asked.
Joan shrugged. "It seems kind of ... odd. I think maybe there's some exaggerations?"
"Me too," Delilah agreed with a smirk. "But, thanks for the warning."
Delilah was going to head out on a grocery run anyway. She got the list and went out to her car. Walking around it, she ran a hand over the body.
"I've hear some unbelievable things about you, Christine," she said as she slowly walked around the car. "If half of what I've heard is true, you can do things all by yourself. If that's true, toot your horn once."
Delilah waited. The horn didn't toot. She walked around to the front of the car.
A short honk sounded.
Delilah smiled. She continued around to the driver's door slowly, again petting the fender. "Ah, I really do have something special here with you. Listen Christine, of all the things I've heard only one truly bothers me. You killed a daughter of your owner. You must know I'm not human. I'm a terminator, I have plasma canons in my arms than can melt large parts of you down in nothing flat. I also have a supply of thermite that can burn what's left down so there's not even slag left. I really don't want to do that. I'd like to keep you for a long time, keep you in top shape and we can go on long drives and have fun. However."
Delilah stopped by the door and morphed out her plasma canons. "If you ever hurt any of our family, I will burn you down to nothing, and you're never coming back. Is that understood?"
A short honk sounded.
"Good! Now, let's take a drive."
Delilah opened the garage door. Christine started up and pulled out of the garage. The driver's door came open.
"Thank you, Christine," Delilah said happily and got in. She shut the door and drove off.
.
In the week that followed, Delilah tested Christine. John had to go down to the town hall, Delilah took him in Christine. While in town she drove over to the classic car warehouse and explained the malfunction they had with the hood. Like promised, they took the hood off and tested both springs and looked at the mountings. The mechanics scratched their heads. They couldn't find anything wrong. Opening and shutting the hood a few times, they put an optic scanner under the hood to watch the springs work. The most they could do was have her come back if it happened again, and they would install a solid brace for when the hood was up.
Delilah had John drive home. He too was enjoying Christine. The car behaved, they got home fine. Delilah let John put the car away. Nothing happened to him.
Another test, John took Cameron for a ride. They were gone for a while, but came back whole and pleased with Christine's performance.
In another test, Jackie asked if they could wash Christine. Delilah parked in in the turnaround outside the garage. She warned them to ensure the windows were shut before they used the hose. In the car wash/ water fight, not a child was injured. Soaked yes, but unhurt. They even dried off the car and put a new coat of wax in Christine, then opened the hood to wash the engine compartment. The hood stayed up the whole time.
.
The last week of school was here. John never realized they had this much stuff. While the kids were taking their finals, He Cameron and Delilah were cleaning out the house except for mattresses and clothes for a few days. Suitcases were packed. There was room left (Barely) for their mattresses on the moving truck. The problem was all the mermaid tails they ordered had arrived and they had no place to put the boxes.
Being packed in protective materials, they reduced the number of boxes from seven to four by putting two tails on each box. These did fit in the back of the Excursion with the rear two rows of seats down. That also took up some seating for the trip. John was going to drive the moving truck, Cameron, her purple Jeep which had the suitcases and some cloths filling the back, Sonya the excursion, and Delilah, Christine. JJ wanted to ride with Dad in the big truck, so he got his wish. Louise rode with Cameron, Jackie rode with Sonya, Joan rode with Delilah.
The last day of school, before she got off the bus at their stop, Joan shifted onto Bob's lap and they kissed a long, deep kiss, causing may kids to cheer of make cat calls.
"See you in a few days." Joan told him.
"I'll be looking forward to it," Bob assured her. A final hug and Joan got up. and waved before she got off.
"A few days?" Charlie asked.
Bob ginned at him. "The house we have will be right across the lake From Joan's house. Dad doesn't know."
.
The caravan was ready to roll, except their old Mermaid tails, and a big bag of dirty laundry. The only place left to put anything was in Christine. The laundry went in the big trunk, Joan helped Delilah lay all the tails out on the back seat.
The house was gone through again to be sure they didn't leave anything behind except what they had agreed to. Both guest houses were also checked. John was thankful they didn't find anything else. Everyone loaded up and the caravan rolled.
Driving along, they made the highway. Joan asked, "Mom, have you thought anything about that dumb list I got off the internet about Christine?"
"I have," Delilah said. "I also looked at why those event may have occurred." She patted the dash and said, "Christine and I had a little chat. Those who Christine supposedly killed, were being mean to her, or her owner. We made a deal. I keep her and ensure she stays in good shape, and she never tries to hurt any of our family. If some asshole comes along to try to hurt us, well, he's fair game."
Joan chuckled. "You talk to Christine?"
"I do, and in her own way, she answers," Delilah told her. "Christine is not a normal car, Joan. There is something in her. I don't know what, and I really don't care, but Christine aches to be loved. Pretty much like anyone else, I imagine."
Joan grinned, "So is Christine the car version of a Terminator?"
The radio came on and played 'unchained melody'
Delilah looked at it. "I guess that answers your question."
Joan petted the dash. "That's sweet Christine!" When that song was over, she asked, "Do you have any fun songs?"
The radio played 'Tequila'
Joan was delighted. They rode along and listened to old songs. Joan was liking it, and she was sure Christine was liking it too.
"That's odd," Delilah noted. "The odometer is rolling backwards."
.
Other than stops for gas and stops for the night, the Connor clan headed for Texas. After five solid days of riding, Joan was getting tired of being in the car. Taking a nap as they drove along, Joan settled down. The radio quit playing. She petted Christine's comfortable seat and nodded off.
"Wake up little Susie, wake up! Wake up little Susie, wake up! Wake up little Susie and weep, it's four o'clock the movie's over and we're in trouble deep! Wake up little Susie! Wake up little Susie! ..."
Joan popped her eyes open, the radio was playing loud. They were stopped, Delilah wasn't in the car. Sitting up, Joan saw her pumping gas. "OK, Christine, I'm up."
The song stopped.
"Thank you for getting me up," Joan offered and petted the dash before she got out. She did have to go and she was getting hungry.
The rest stop pumps were full of the caravan. Across the pumps, Cameron was filling her purple jeep, Ahead of her Sonya filled the Excursion. The moving truck was to the side. In the store, Jackie and JJ were in line getting snacks and drinks.
John had then all gather by the truck, so he knew when all the fill ups, bathroom calls and snacks had been gotten before they moved on. The end of day five, they passed sings stating they were in Texas now, the lone star state. Everyone in all the vehicles cheered. They were still two day's ride from where they were going, but the end of the riding was in sight.
.
That day was also the day the Tanners watched the moving company truck pull away. Their car loaded, Jake drove out behind it. In the back seat, Bob sat between the clothes and things that didn't fit in the trunk. Bored already, he closed his eyes and relaxed, hoping to go to sleep.
After a while, his father called, "Yes, we're OUT of California!"
Bob smiled. His father had no idea who'd be waiting for them when they got to their new house.
Unlike the Connor caravan that had to drive at a maximum of 65 due to the moving van, Once he was clear of cities, Jake ran it up to 85. He was seeing signs for Texas when the Connor caravan pulled up to their house.
.
This house was big. Not as big as the mansion, but the two floors did spread out a ways. The first thing the Connor clan did was go in and check the house out. Next was selecting rooms. The big Master bedroom was plenty big enough for their king sized bed. The next two days, they unloaded and set up rooms, working in small groups. Delilah and Cameron worked at the kitchen once their bed was set up and in place. John with JJ and Louise finished setting up the Master bedroom, then Louise's room, then JJ's. Joan and Jackie set up Jackie's room then Joan's room. By the end of the first day, they had places to sleep and in the all-electric kitchen, dinner was served from the coolers of food they brought.
Day two and they unloaded the rest of the furniture and emptied out the vehicles. A grocery run was needed. Cameron and Delilah went in Christine. Checking the barn, John found they did have gasoline and diesel storage tanks, but they were empty. He called for fuel trucks to come fill the 500 gallon tanks.
The lake was calling the girls. They first thing they did after the unloading was done, was get their new mermaid tails out. Louise had never swam with a mermaid tail before, so Joan went to the pool with her at the shallow end. Joan explained how to move in an undulating motion and showed her. Louise was slow to pick up the full body motions, but got better with practice.
JJ ran up with news. "Joan, there's a rowboat on the lake, it came from the other side."
Joan perked up. "Who's in it?"
"I don't know, you said you wanted to know if we saw a boat, so I'm telling you."
Joan looked at Louise. "I'll be back ... in a while."
Louise grinned. "OK, go see if it's Bob. I'm going to rest a while. This is hard work."
.
Bob hadn't seen a rowboat like this before. The oars were jointed so by siting behind them and pulling back, the boat went forwards. The bow was lifted a bit and flat, and it had three seats, the top of the front was even with the sides. He asked to go take a ride in it. Dad had gone to town. His mother told him to go, but watch where he was so he didn't get lost.
Bob rowed straight out into the lake. It water was clear, he could see the bottom drop down the father he went. It did get deep enough the bottom dropped out of sight. Under the boat, he did see fish dart away. Some of them looked to be good sized. He was looking around. The house across the lake had vehicles in front of it. He then felt the front of the boat dip down slightly. A pair of hands were on the front, then Joan's head popped up.
"Hi Bob!" she beamed. "I take it you made it here OK?"
Bob smiled back at her. "We did, even though the ride was long and pretty boring."
Joan pulled herself up onto the front and turned to flop her tail in the boat. "The ride was miserable, but I got to ride in Christine all the way!"
"Wow, and you're still alive"' Bob said with a chuckle.
"Bob, Christine is a nice car," Joan said. "She played music for us and even woke me up for gas stops."
"So, Christine isn't an evil car out to kill people?" he asked.
"Nope! she just wants to be loved. Mommy Two had a talk with her."
"You mom talked to a car? Did the car respond?" Bob asked with a smirk.
"In her own way. Bob, Christine doesn't speak, she plays the radio, and gives hints like opening the door to let you know it's time to go. Things like that."
"The car opens it's own doors?"
Joan nodded. "She even steered herself when Mommy Two was digging for her phone."
"Straight ahead I take it?'
"Nope, she made corners and everything." Joan said, then put the end of her tail on the seat in front of Bob's and used her arms on the sides to come closer to him. She cast him a impish smile. "So, we're out on the lake, no one else around..." She let her voice trail off.
Seeing how far they were from any shore, he asked, "That must have been a long swim. Why don't you relax?" he asked.
"Good idea." he turned around in her seat then leaned back to put her head and shoulders in his lap. She stretchered out, the lower portion of her tail across the front seat. "OH! With this new tail, I can even stand up in it," Joan said. The fluked end of her tail came up and waved.
Bob chuckled. "I bet that's handy."
"It is! I can dive off the dock instead of rolling off it." Joan beamed.
"So, my precious lady-fish, is there someplace I can take you?"
Joan giggled. "You can take me anywhere, but we promised your mother we wouldn't do that," she said with a crooked grin.
There was one problem with being seated with Joan lounging in his lap. He couldn't bend down to kiss her.
Joan noticed his dilemma. "Just lie down with me," she said.
Joan wasn't quite on his seat, he was holding her head and shoulders up. Her butt was on the next seat. If she moved back, then her butt would be off that seat and her tail would no longer be supported. "I don't think this boat was made for making out," he grumbled.
Joan frowned the said, "Well we can talk and rub." She reached around her back and unclasped her top. "Feel the inside of this new top," she coaxed.
Bob grew a wide grin. "Just the top?"
Joan shrugged. "Anything else there that interests you as well."
Bob slipped his hand unto the top of her chest and slowly worked his way down under her now loose top. '"I have to say, this does feel fantastic."
Joan closed her eyes and let out a satisfied hum. "You don't have to stop ... any time this year."
.
Carol could see Bob, but he was way out there. She thought she saw something flip up briefly towards the front of the boat. Curious, she got the binoculars Jake bought for watching wildlife. Getting the boat in focus, she saw Bob sitting there, doing something. A big fin flipped up again and flopped back down. She wondered how he caught that big of a fish like that with no pole. She then noted a slim arm come up and point out something in a wave.
It was Joan.
Carol knew she shouldn't be surprised, but she was at how fast they had gotten back together. They just got here, and Bobby rowed out to meet Joan in the middle of the lake. She had to have been here waiting for him.
The only other house she could see was on the other side of the lake. Yes, someone set this up all right. It was no coincidence their house was on the other side of the lake from the Connors. Crooked grin crossed her face. Was Jake ever going to be mad when he found out.
Seeing motion from the right, she saw a small power boat with an outboard motor moving across the lake towards Bob's boat. As it approached, it slowed down. Three figures were in this boat.
.
Joan sat up upon hearing the other boat coming. She did remember to clasp her top first. Now facing Bob she waved. "Allison!" she cried.
Daniel cut the motor and drifted closer. Claire called, "Hi Joan, Bob. Didn't take long for you two to find each other."
Joan and Bob beamed smiles back at them. "Nope!" Joan chimed. "OH, Allie, our new tails came in! Follow me! our dock's over there! Come on Bob!" Joan then got up to stand in the bottom of the boat. She kissed Bob then jumped arching over to plunge into the water with hardly a ripple. Bob watched her level out and swim away under the other boat.
"She's going that way," Bob offered.
Bob rowed, Daniel moved along slow. Ahead, Joan jumped clear of the water in a dolphin jump to dive back in. She kept doing this, heading for their dock.
Joan swam part way back then surfaced and swam on her back to ensure both boats were following. Excited, Joan wanted to swim in this lake forever! This place was going to be so much fun!